Rather than lie and say it doesn't bother him, Roy Jones Jr. admits that something that happened in the ring all the way back in 1988 is still there.
Because there are just some things that you never can quite clear.
Jones is one of the best boxers of all time who won titles, belts, and was once called the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, but that one loss in 1988 still gets him.
"You never get over it," he told me back in July.
Roy Jones Jr. will probably lose to Mike Tyson in their eight-round, pay-per-view exhibition fight scheduled for Nov. 28 in Carson, Calif.
If Jones loses, he loses. He'll get over it.
One of the fun elements to this job is the chance to ask someone from your childhood about an indelible moment, including those they'd prefer to forget but cannot.
In the gold medal fight of the might-middle weight division in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, Jones was part of one of the worst decisions in a sport that should have a Hall of Fame of Terrible Decisions.
Jones handily beat up Park Si-hun, who was from ... South Korea.
Jones landed 86 punches to Si-hun's 32, and for those of us who remember the night all know who won that fight.
But when the announcer announced the winner, the referee held up Si-hun's hand.
Jones' expression was disbelief, as was Park's.
"There's hardened resentment built up in me that I will probably carry for the rest of my life," Park said in an interview with the Associated Press in August of this year. "I didn't want my hand to be raised (after the fight with Jones), but it did go up, and my life became gloomy because of that."
He was immediately besieged with criticism, mockery and ridicule in his own country. It was so bad he contemplated suicide.
He never turned professional, and instead opted to become a teacher and eventually a boxing instructor.
The three judges from the fight were suspended, and although there were allegations of bribery a formal investigation by the IOC cleared everyone involved of corruption.
Jones turned professional, and became a brilliant prize fighter. He's convinced the loss made him win.
"A lot of times a setback is the springboard to a great start; that setback made me go harder when I sprung forward," he said. "A lot of the guys who came up with me in my class, they had lost fights by their 16th or 17th fight. I don't think they were as focused as I was.
"Because of that loss in the Olympics it gave me something to prove."
But for all of us who remember watching that fight, and felt sports-rage when the decision was announced, we all know he did not lose that gold medal fight.
"Yeah, but it still gave me something to prove. They gave me the award that I was the most outstanding fighter of the tournament. You hear me?" he asked.
Yes.
"To the entire world, it's a little bit contradictory; how he is the best fighter at the Olympics but he does not have a gold medal?" Jones asked.
Yes. How?
"God knows me better than myself and he said, 'You are going to turn it on, but you are not going to turn it like you are going to turn it on until after this,' " Jones said.
This is the deal Roy Jones Jr. made with himself to deal with one of the worst moments of his life.
Jones turned it on, and did everything a professional boxer can do, including the chance to step into the ring as a 51-year-old man with the 54-year-old Mike Tyson.
Roy Jones Jr. earned an Olympic gold medal, but he will never get over not winning it.
No need to lie about it.
